Neighbors take steps in the right direction at ongoing workshop

Other local residents who want to learn how they can impact their communities are welcome to attend the “Neighbors Changing Flint: The First Step Is Yours” training series, says Ashley Everhart, agency director of the Neighborhood Engagement Hub.

Set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday March 28 at Asbury United Methodist Church, 1653 Davison Road, Neighborhood Engagement Hub will host its last workshop of the month before April and May sessions are held by program partners.

Ashley Everhart, Director, Neighborhood Engagement Hub

“We’ve had a really good response and a good mix of people who’ve done this for years, even decades, and some who’ve never been part of a block club or neighborhood association, or who are thinking about forming one,” Everhart says.

Topics of “Neighbors Changing Flint: The First Step Is Yours” have ranged from organizing residents and implementing goals to strategies for securing funding for programs. Neighborhood Engagement Hub has been proactive in empowering workshop participants with resource materials, including informative handouts, adds Everhart.

Attendance has been steady, with no fewer than 50 residents or community advocates attending each workshop, she says. Support from partners including Kettering University and the University Avenue Corridor Coalition, Crim Fitness/Safe & Active Genesee for Everyone, Community Foundation of Greater Flint, Ruth Mott Foundation, Genesee County Habitat for Humanity, Flint Neighborhoods United, Flint Public Art Project, Genesee County Land Bank, and the City of Flint has boosted the program’s positive reception.

The neighborhood design segment of the ongoing series will feature workshops hosted by Kettering University and the University Avenue Corridor Coalition in April, followed by May sessions addressing advocacy, led by Crim Fitness/Safe & Active Genesee for Everyone.

Everhart hopes participants who attend “Neighbors Changing Flint: The First Step Is Yours,” which is free to the public, gains new awareness of the community’s resources.

“We want them to know there are organizations out there to help them turn their ideas into action,” she says.